One Thousand Paper Cranes
by Lil-Yul
Summary: There was this legend about a thousand paper cranes in a faraway land... Set in Radiant Garden, kind of AU but not really AU, and also because we like little kids so much we just pair them together.
1. Prologue

**Hey guys! Thanks to my lazy-ass-ness, I haven't continued any of my past stories! But don't worry, I'm done with half this story... Well. Yeah. **

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><p>"<em>What are you doing?"<em>

_He holds up the green paper, folded into a shape of a bird. "Folding paper cranes."_

The first time I saw him was when he visited my house for an assignment. He was to be my home tutor for three weeks. An assignment for both me, and him.

He wore a white coat that brushed lightly past his ankles, shielding jeans and a dark-colored shirt from view, as well as half his fingers even though the sleeves were folded in. I noticed him easily because of his light colored hair. Like steel; blue in color, shiny in the glow of the fluorescent lights. He sat on a stool by the table, opposite Granny, hands placed on his lap and a navy blue file on the table.

Granny made me introduce myself to him. I did; after all it was rude to not do so.

"Hello! My name is Kairi," I said. He did not smile; he merely shook my outstretched hand politely and pulled back.

"I am Ienzo."

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

The next day when I returned from school, he was already waiting for me in the dining room, dressed in the same attire. He was reading a book- something really thick- I don't know what. On the table were two different books, meant for someone my age, one labeled 'Mathematics' and another 'Tales of the Worlds'.

"Welcome home, Kairi. Now sit down and have your lunch; Ienzo will help you with your homework later." Granny called from the kitchen. I took my seat directly facing Ienzo. His eyes were blue. Blue; unlike mine, which were like the sea; his was steely gray, shades darker than his hair but still blue.

Granny served me some potatoes and vegetables. Ienzo paid no attention. I ate; he frowned at the noise I was making. Oops. Perhaps I irritated him.

When I was done eating Granny left us be to buy something from the markets. He put his heavy book down and picked up the Mathematics book. We talked about equations.

I drew the wrong symbol and earned a glare. He took my hand and guided me to draw a more proper looking eight symbol.

He taught me about the multipli-whatevers. I said he drew the addition symbol wrong. He buried his face in his palms.

We went on to the next book where he told me a story. He said something about other worlds. Worlds with flying cars. Giant key-shaped things that can open doors to another world. He mentioned a star-shaped fruit and cranes.

One thousand paper cranes.

I begged him to tell me more of the paper cranes. He didn't tell me the origins. He told me a story.

"_It was in a world far, far away from ours. War has always littered the history of the world. In a particular war a dangerous weapon was dropped. She was a little girl then, but she suffered the aftereffects. She developed a dangerous disease._

"_Soon she was sent to the hospital. Her friend visited her every day. One day her friend folded a paper crane for her. It was an ancient belief in her homeland that by folding a thousand paper cranes, your wish would be granted. She wanted to get better. She wanted to be able to run freely outside with her friends again. So she started folding._

"_She folded, and folded, and folded as the days went by. At 644 paper cranes she left the world forever. Her friends continued it for her. They made the remaining 366 paper cranes and buried all 1000 of them with her."_

Then we stopped talking when his guardian, a blond man came by to pick him up. He said a curt goodbye and left taking the books with him.

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

I never saw him on the day after because it was a Saturday. I never saw him on Sunday either. On Monday he returned, with two different books, none of them his reading material. In place he was moving his fingers nimbly up and down a few pieces of colored papers.

I asked him what he was doing. He told me that those were the paper cranes he told me of. He had six of them already on the table, two yellow, one orange, one red and two violet ones. He added a green one to it. Then he stopped folding and then opened the books.

We spent the rest of the lesson learning about science. About life. I like it when he told me how to differentiate between the things that have a life and those that don't. Those that have a life move by themselves. Those who don't just… don't.

I said the fan was alive and he choked on his tea. He said we control the fan so it moved. I took it up.

Then I said the curtains were alive and he planted his face on the table. He said the wind caused it to move.

I said the wind was alive and he screamed "UGH!"

So we stopped learning and went out to the garden.

"How old are you?" I ask, watching Ienzo intently as he tried to avoid stepping on puddles of water from the rain last night. He liked skipping. He was jumping out of my house the other day, too.

"Me? I'm three years older than you are. You do the math."

I counted on my fingers. "Eight!" I said triumphantly. Then I frowned. "You're too young to be a teacher."

"You only noticed now?" He exclaimed. "Wow," he added, whistling.

"What class are you in?"

"I don't go to school."

"Eh? But… But you're so smart and…"

"I had a tutor. Much like you and me. Except that mine taught me everything I needed to know, every day, until now, where I had to do this assignment with you. When we're done I have to study under him again."

"Oh. Is he three years older than you, too?"

"… No."

Then the blond man came again and took Ienzo away. He left all seven of the paper cranes for me, and took the books away again.

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

Today was the last day I get to spend time with Ienzo. There were forty-two paper cranes in my room now. He didn't bring any books for me with him today, only a thick black book with no words on it. I asked him why. He said we were going to do something practical today, and that he could stay longer.

He led me to the Fountain Court behind the castle. It was pretty, all pink and purple and blue. I found a few odd floating pots which Ienzo used his thick book to whack them away.

I said don't. Those things have a life. He said he was glad I learned but then he told me that those things drop special stuff and they never get hurt. I don't know why. It dropped a few packets of things which he asked me to taste.

The first one was something called Soy Milk. It tasted like milk and something else. I wrote it down on his book.

Another one tasted bitter! He said it was Moogle Coffee. I put it away quickly.

Then it was something sweet he called 'Nebula Nectar'. I don't know what it is.

The last one he gave me was a fizzy drink that made my mouth taste funny. It was called Rocket Soda. He laughed when I spat the fizzy drinks out.

When we were done he gave me ice-cream, the kind Granny always buys for me whenever I get good marks. The blue matched his eyes.

"Can I see you again?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I can't go out from the castle freely."

"You live in the castle?"

"Uh-huh."

We said nothing after that. When it was close to the evening he said he wanted to go somewhere else before he was bought home. But he didn't know where to go so I dragged him by his hand and bought him to the Outer Gardens.

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

"What is this door?"

"I don't know."

"Let's go in!"

"I don't want to."

"Why?"

"I don't know this place."

"You don't know the Outer Gardens too."

"I…"

So I dragged Ienzo in and then we walked together, hand in hand. The place was huge. The floors are golden in color.

"I- I think I should return to the castle now. I am too far away from the central square; and Even cannot locate me in here. Furthermore I did not bring my cell phone with me."

"A little while more? Please?"

He nodded. I walked to the edge carefully. Below the raised platform it was all water below.

"Kairi."

"Huh?"

"Don't move."

Too late. I turned to see Ienzo when he said my name; but instead I saw something big and blue. It nearly got me with its punch. I screamed, and screamed, until Ienzo used his book to push it away. I don't know how he could do it but the big blue thing disappeared. A few more came. He repeated his actions.

By the time there was no more of them Ienzo didn't have the strength to move anymore. I ran towards him. No, he wasn't hurt, but he was tired. He didn't look at me.

"Screech."

I heard squeaky noises. I heard Ienzo gasp. I saw something blue, smaller than the ones before, and I saw red. Like the only red paper crane I have in my room. Ienzo never wore red. Only white, black, blue and gray. I heard a thump and it was all over.

There was no more weird squeaking, punching blue monsters, only me, and Ienzo, lying down on the floor holding his book. The red came from him, from inside him, making his white coat red.

I'm sure he wasn't sleeping. Maybe he fainted. I don't want him to faint.

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><p><strong>Tadah! Give me a motivating glomp! Wait, on second thought, don't. I don't want you guys to ruin your PCLaptop/Mac screen for trying to jump-bear-hug it. **

**I don't know when I'll update again, but neh. Give me some motivation. Also, any Qs? Ask away! Oh, and I might have to change bits of this story or something, I admittedly say I only use the spellchecker but I haz no beta.**


	2. Median

**I believe the next chapter will be the last unless my brain keeps feeding me ideas. Well, enjoy this for now!**

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><p>"<em>Are you making these for yourself?"<em>

"_No. I don't believe in the story at all."_

_"Well, I believe in the hope the story gives."_

Ienzo wasn't moving. He was breathing, yes, but he wouldn't move. I tried to pick him up and haul him up the stairs. I stopped at the third step because his head kept thumping against the metal. It must have hurt… So I didn't try to force him up any longer.

Instead I left him there and ran outside. Maybe someone was out there. Yes, maybe someone would. The Outer Gardens may be far from the Central Square, but that doesn't mean no one would be here. Maybe the flower girl would be here! She often comes to tend to the flowers. Or maybe her younger brother, too?

"Ienzo? Ienzo, where are you? You shouldn't be wandering off…"

I latched myself on the blond man. The man who came to take Ienzo away every day after our lessons.

"Help! He's not moving at all! I- Ienzo is not…"

He quickly urged me to lead him to Ienzo. I ran as fast as I could, into the Purification Facility, with him close behind. He overtook me once he saw the crumpled heap of white and red, partly on the steps and another part on the floor.

Ienzo was hauled up to the man's chest bridal-style, albeit quite forcefully. I followed the blond man out again and into the castle, where no one paid any attention to me. Ienzo was passed on like an object to another really big man with long black hair and a scary face and a big long weapon he discarded once he was tasked to carry Ienzo. So I switched targets, stopped following the exhausted blond and chased the new person instead.

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

I watched them put Ienzo on the table on shut the door. Two men were inside there; one I recognized as Ansem the Wise from my textbooks and another man with dark skin and really white hair. The man who bought Ienzo in was sitting on a bench outside the room now. Two others came to join him. The blond person came a bit later, the crimson still peppered on his white coat.

I sat down beside the four of them, on the edge of the long bench because all four of them took up a lot of space. Eventually I gave up and sat on the floor. What are they going to do to Ienzo? What happened to him? What were those things that attacked us?

Those red liquids- it's blood, isn't it?

"Hey, kid, what happened?"

It took me a few moments to realize that it was another man with black hair and a scary-looking eyepatch that was addressing me.

"I don't know… That blue thing just came and hit Ienzo! And then he didn't move anymore…"

"S' those Unversed. Told you that we shoulda gave Izzy a gun."

"And then we shall have another genius geek who shoots people once he gets pissed, like you." The one who carries Ienzo here said.

"Hey, fuck off-"

"BRAIG! There is a child around here and I will not stand having you teaching her vulgarities! Ienzo is severely hurt and you still have the heart to joke?"

I winced.

"Now, now, Even! Okay, I'll stop that, and then I'll sit down and be a good boy like Izzy and listen to every word you say, okay?"

Everyone stopped talking. I watched the clock move slowly. Slowly. Slowly.

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

Ienzo taught me how to read the clock. I think it is eight fifteen when the blond man- Even- offered to take me home. Or was it Three forty?

"What's wrong with Ienzo?"

"From what I have gathered he seems to have been impaled."

"Imp… What?"

"Let's just say he got something sharp in his body. I don't think anything bad will happen because it wasn't quite deep."

"Does it… hurt?"

"Yes, it does, Kairi."

We reached home. Even knocked on the door, waited for Granny to open it, said a few simple greetings, told her of Ienzo's condition and left.

I spent dinnertime poking and pushing my salmon around the plate.

"Are you worried?"

"Huh?"

"About Ienzo. He's such a sweet boy, too…"

"Granny, will he be alright?"

"I'm sure he will. All you need to do is to keep praying and use the light in your heart to pull him back from the darkness."

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

After school, I asked Granny for permission to leave and dared myself to ask for Ienzo at the Castle.

They let me in. Ienzo was sleeping, they said, but not in his room. In the medical room. He was lying on a bed, wearing a white long sleeved shirt, covered to the shoulders with the blanket on his bed, but his left arm stuck out. I saw a pin stuck into his hand, attached to a bag of clear water hanging on a stand. Ienzo was breathing through some device.

A few pieces of paper littered the room, the color surprisingly bright against the white walls and floors. Some of the papers were folded neatly and strung up onto the ceiling for display.

Paper cranes.

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

When I came to see Ienzo again he was awake, with Even- and the silver-haired man with him.

"Kairi," he acknowledged me, but his voice sounded weak.

"You're awake!"

"Yes, I can see that I am…"

I saw the paper he held in his hand. Pink, folded, and a few more of differing colors on the bedside table.

"Are you folding paper cranes?"

"Yeah…"

"Are these… for yourself?"

He stared at me before going back to work. "I don't know. I just…" Ienzo stopped talking for a while and held his chest. The silver haired man attended to him quickly.

Even put his hand on my shoulder. Because I was so much shorter than he is, he had to kneel down to do so. "Kairi, Ienzo has a heart problem."

"Huh?"

"He cannot do most of the things you can. He has been like that since he was still very young. Now that he has been hurt, his heart has stopped working."

"But… If you don't have a heart… Wouldn't you die?"

"Yes. So we made a fake heart for him. But he is still a child and cannot use that fake heart for too long; he could die. Ienzo needs a new heart. A real one." Even sounded hopeful at the end of the sentence.

The silver haired man gave Ienzo an injection and let him sleep. I watched from behind Even. Later Even led me out and sent me home again.

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

The next few days Ienzo was asleep. I watched him from atop the chair Even gave me. More and more paper cranes were strewn across the room. He must've been awake at some point of the day, folding the paper cranes. And then, he fell asleep again before I could see him. Maybe he got an injection again.

I wished Ienzo would wake up and talk to me again.

Every day I came. Every day someone else was watching over him. I would talk to them sometimes. Braig called Ienzo "Izzy" and liked joking. He also liked hanging upside-down from the ceiling. He was the one who always hung Ienzo's beautifully crafted paper cranes up.

Xehanort always bought a book with him and read it while observing Ienzo's condition. When we talk, he teaches me many things, some which Ienzo never told me before.

Aeleus rarely talks. He prefers sitting in a corner playing with puzzles. But when I ask him something, he always responds. Every time he was here he bought a box of colored paper.

Dilan does not like being here at all. But he still cares for Ienzo. Every time I see his fingers twitch, Dilan would be at his side before I could say anything. He would check Ienzo and record his temperatures.

Even was in here the most. Sometimes with one of the others or by himself. He always talked to me. Sometimes he taught me things. Sometimes he reads to me. Sometimes he tells me how Ienzo is faring.

And there was Master Ansem. He came only once, bringing Sea-salt ice-cream for me. He told me that Ienzo had no parents. Not like mine, who went to work someplace else but who would still return. Ienzo has a problem where his heart cannot take it when he runs quickly, when he gets really scared, or when he loses too much blood.

So he says that's why Ienzo never goes to school.

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

Today Ienzo was awake. But he wasn't folding paper cranes.

He was lying down on the bed, tired, holding his cup.

"Ienzo?"

"Hello, Kairi."

I sat down beside him. "Why aren't you folding paper cranes?"

He smiled. "I can't. I don't have the strength."

"How many have you made?"

"Count for yourself."

I pointed to each of them and counted. Slowly. Then I lost count and started all over again. Ienzo smiled.

"I taught you multiplication."

"What? Oh!" I exclaimed. I counted how many paper cranes there were on one string. Five. Then I counted the number of strings. Twelve. I spent some time but I finally said "Seventeen!"

Ienzo groaned inwardly.

__One-Thousand Paper Cranes__

Yesterday's reunion was cut short because Xehanort wanted Ienzo to take his medicine, and then sleep.

Another three days went. Ienzo got weaker and weaker. He never spoke; he only stared at the paper cranes. At least he was awake.

One day Even told me Ienzo had found a donor for a heart. But he told me that I might not see Ienzo again. I don't know why. I asked. He said I wouldn't understand. I asked him what I could do. He said:

"Change each and every one of your prayers into a thousand paper cranes."

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><p><strong>Even to this day a great deal of cheesy dramas still use the 1000 paper cranes idea. I think I'm immune to it already. Ah, no wonder my friends call me 'Heartless'. <strong>

**By the way, I'm flitting in between this story and another more mature story centered on the Zemyx _friendship_ pairing! I think I'll be able to post it up shortly after or before I post the last chapter of this. **


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